820–22

Conversation No. 820-22

Date: December 12, 1972
Time: 3:17 pm - 3:36 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Jewell R. Lafontant and John D. Ehrlichman. Members of the Press,
Stephen B. Bull, and the White House photographer were present at the beginning of the
meeting.

Greetings
 -60-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)

Conversation No. 820-22 (cont’d)

Photograph session
-Seating arrangements

Second term reorganization
-Women
-Ehrlichman’s conversations with Barbara H. Franklin and Caspar W.
(“Cap”) Weinberger

The President’s schedule

Vietnam negotiations

Second term reorganization
-United Nations [UN]
-US delegation

[Photograph session]
-[General conversation]
-Executive Office Building [EOB]
-1973 Inauguration license plate
-[J. Willard Marriott]

Lafontant’s political background
-Republican National Conventions
-1960
-1952
-[Cornelius Stadford]
-Dwight D. Eisenhower

Zosimo T. Monson entered at an unknown time after 3:17 pm.

Refreshments
-Coffee, tea, cola
-Consumme

Monson left at an unknown time before 3:36 pm.

Stradford’s political background
 -61-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)

Conversation No. 820-22 (cont’d)

Lafontant’s political background
-Republican National Convention, 1960
-Eisenhower

Second term reorganization
-Blacks
-The President’s meeting with black administration appointees
-Black community
-Women
-Branch Rickey
-John Roosevelt (“Jackie”) Robinson

Monson entered at an unknown time after 3:17 pm.

Refreshments
-Coffee

Monson left at an unknown time before 3:36 pm.

Second term reorganization
-Blacks
-Rickey
-Robinson
-Montreal
-Brooklyn Dodgers
-World Series
-Satchel Paige
-Lafontant’s legal and political qualifications
-Lafontant’s diplomatic skills
-George H. W. Bush
-Deputy Solicitor General
-Robert H. Bork
-Erwin N. Griswold
-Departure
-Timing
-Background
-University of Chicago, Yale University
-Duties
-Arguing cases
 -62-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)

Conversation No. 820-22 (cont’d)

-Supreme Court
-Bork’s understanding
-Possible judgeship for Lafontant
-Comment by Lafontant
-Promise
-Bork
-Timing
-Appeals court
-Compared to trial court
-District court
-Lafontant’s experience
-Supreme Court
-District of Columbia
-South
-Black judges
-Senators
-American Bar Association [ABA]
-Membership
-Fifth Circuit
-Congressional relations
-The President’s possible conversation with James O.
Eastland, Roman L. Hruska
-ABA
-North Carolina
-Unknown woman
-ABA
-Age
-Men
-Justice Department
-State Bar Association
-Lafontant’s experience
-Chicago Bar Association
-Opportunity
-Qualifications
-Lafontant’s experience
-Seconding of the President’s nomination in 1960
-Stradford’s political background
-Republican Party
-ABA
 -63-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)

Conversation No. 820-22 (cont’d)

-Lafontant’s identity as black woman
-Supreme Court
-Deaths
-William H. Rehnquist
-Background
-Office of Legal Counsel
-Qualifications
-Justice Department
-Solicitor General, Office of Legal Counsel
-Nonpolitical status
-Timing
-Possible residence
-Washington, DC
-Real estate
-Prices
-Ehrlichman’s telephone call to Lafontant
-Lafontant’s conversation with H. Ernest Lafontant
-Ernest Lafontant’s law practice
-Chicago
-Washington, DC, New York
-Bar associations
-Jewell Lafontant’s conversation with Ernest Lafontant

Jewell Lafontant’s law practice
-Julius J. Hoffman

Second term reorganization
-Deputy Solicitor General
-Work with Ehrlichman
-Race relations
-Leonard Garment
-Stanley S. Scott
-Robert J. Brown
-Brown
-Departure
-Sally Brown
-Ambassadorship
-North Carolina
-Money making
 -64-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)

Conversation No. 820-22 (cont’d)

-Conversation with Jewell Lafontant
-Meeting

Bull entered and left at an unknown time after 3:17 pm.

The President’s schedule

Bull left at an unknown time before 3:36 pm.

Second term reorganization
-Jewell Lafontant’s schedule
-Bork
-Meeting with [Joseph T. Sneed]
-Possible telephone call to Ehrlichman
-Background check on Jewell Lafontant
-John W. Dean, III
-Finances
-Possible judgeship for Jewell Lafontant

Lafontant and Ehrlichman left at 3:36 pm.